Desiree Navarro/WireImage(NEW YORK) — Lorraine Toussaint stars as civil rights activist Amelia Boynton Robinson in Selma, the critically acclaimed film that recounts the history of the 1965 voting rights marches led by Martin Luther King Jr.
The Orange is the New Black star tells ABC News Radio Robinson was “a real character. She was the one who invited Martin to Selma to create a staging there.”
The film, she continues, is “about Martin Luther King’s march from Selma to Montgomery and the historical characters that were involved in the planning of that, the staging of it and the execution of it — culminating in Bloody Sunday. Those seminal photos that went across the AP that brought the focus of the Civil Rights Movement, brought the world’s focus to what was going on in Alabama.”
Toussaint says Selma highlights little-known figures in the Civil Rights Movement, as well as women’s contributions.
“Many of the women who were involved in the Civil Rights Movement have not been recognized by history. It was still very much a man’s world,” she adds. “And Amelia Boynton, I didn’t realize, [but] this woman was an activist since she was in her late teens. This is all she has ever done. She is a professional activist.”
And although Toussaint is African-American, she said she still learned a lot from the period film.
“The thing that I learned in this film that I didn’t realize before is how — it’s gonna sound weird — how smart they were,” she admits. “They consciously chose hot spots in this country of a community, and a sheriff and a governorship. They were looking for places where it would be volatile because something in Martin knew that he needed the press to bring about change. He needed to bring this to the world.”
David Oyelowo, who effortlessly portrays King, was instrumental to bringing Selma to the big screen. Still, director Ava DuVernay was also vital to the process. And it paid off for DuVernay, who became the first black woman to receive a Golden Globe nomination for best director.
“Ava DuVernay…is a genius as far as I’m concerned, and a master filmmaker, and one very smart woman,” Toussaint adds.
Selma, which also stars Carmen Ejogo, Oprah Winfrey and Common, hits select theaters Christmas Day before opening wider January 9.
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